sistersvssystemsTell them apart

Which to use

“sisters” and “systems” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,152
“sisters” frequency rank
#18,887
“systems” frequency rank
62039
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sisters systems
Definition Pluriel de sister. Pluriel de system.

Where the eye mixes sisters and systems

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
sisters
7 ch
systems

Look-alike desk: sisters vs systems

A purely visual mix-up. sisters (\ˈsɪs.tɚz\) and systems (\ˈsɪs.təmz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sisters is recorded at frequency rank #43,152, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɪs.tɚz\. systems is at rank #18,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɪs.təmz\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 62039, this pair ranks #89,171 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sisters vs systems

Shared letters: est. Private to "sisters": ir. Private to "systems": my.

"sisters" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "systems" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sistersissters · sisetrs · sissters · sisterrs · sisterss · sistesr · sistres · sistters
  • systemsssystems · ssytems · sysetms · sysstems · systemms · systemss · systesm · systmes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sisters" for "systems" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈsɪs.tɚz\ versus \ˈsɪs.təmz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "sisters" or "systems" show up more?
"systems" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,887 in our French list, against #43,152 for "sisters". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sisters" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "systems" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #89,171 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sisters" and "systems" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "siestes vs sisters". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #89,171 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list